Emmanuel Baptist Church is an Elizabethtown Church meeting the needs of our church, our community, our state, our nation, and the world as we love God, link with others, learn to follow, live on mission.

Friday, February 21, 2014

It was not one of those days that I expected.
Indeed, my schedule included several items that I have done more than once in
my eight years at LifeWay. One of those was our “Pursuit of Excellence” chapel,
where we recognize several outstanding employees.

Our executive vice president, Brad Waggoner,
called each name before a packed chapel. The employees in the audience had a
brochure with photos and accomplishments of the recipients of the award. As the
names were called, those in attendance expressed appreciation with hearty
applause.

Then it happened.

Brad called the name “Kenny Washington,” and
the place went crazy. It was not simply applause but screams of delight. I had
never heard anything like it in my days at LifeWay. Brad and I looked at each
other, and we mouthed the same question: “Who is this guy?”

Brad and I took Kenny to lunch recently. On
the one hand, we wanted to honor him for his service to LifeWay. On the other
hand, we wanted to learn from him. There was something about Kenny our
employees understood. We in the executive office needed to learn that as well.

I hope Kenny didn’t view our lunch as an
inquisition. I just had to learn more about this man.

Kenny was born the eighth of nine children to
Christian parents, though his mother had the greater influence. He came to
LifeWay almost 25 years ago and works in mail services. He also serves in the
National Guard reserves. His most recent deployment was in Afghanistan. We got
to hear incredible stories of his diving for the bunker as rockets sailed over
his head.

But my question focused on his work as an
employee. Simply stated, Kenny Washington is one of the most incredible
employees I’ve ever known. Here are his “secrets” to work success.

Keys to Being a
Successful Employee

In the course of 90 minutes, Kenny shared with
us a wealth of information. Though I am the president and CEO of the company, I
was really the student learning from the teacher. Here are the seven lessons I
learned:

1.View your work as a gift. Kenny
has absolutely no sense of entitlement. He views his opportunity to work as a
gift from God, and he treats it as such every day.

2.Seek to serve your fellow employees. Because
his job is in mail services, Kenny gets to know a lot of fellow employees in
LifeWay’s corporate offices in downtown Nashville. He sees his work as an
opportunity to serve others. Indeed, he takes every opportunity to do for
others on a daily basis.

3.Have a great work ethic. When
Kenny described his work ethic, he made me tired! He said he never gets tired
because he finds so much joy in what he does.

4.Do more than your job requires. Kenny
told me about saving the organization money when he found a way to cut one
division’s postage costs. You won’t find that assignment anywhere in his job
description. He is always looking for areas to serve beyond what is expected of
him.

5.Accentuate the positive. This
man does not have his head in the sand. He knows there is no perfect place to
work, including LifeWay. But he chooses to focus on what is good rather than
complain about the negative. That outlook makes his disposition positive,
cheery, and optimistic.

6.Accept responsibility. I
bet Kenny Washington has never blamed a co-worker or a boss for his work. I bet
he has never succumbed to the victim mentality. His entire perspective is that
he is responsible for his work, and he must do it with excellence.

7.Seek to improve your skill set. Kenny
has seen a lot of change in the world in 25 years. He’s seen a lot of change at
LifeWay too. He knows that he must constantly upgrade and improve himself to
remain a successful employee—and he does.

Lessons Learned

As my dad used to say, “He really schooled
me.” Kenny Washington taught me so much. He inspired me so greatly. He
motivated me so powerfully.

Thank you, Kenny. Employees can learn so much
from you. Employees in the secular world. Employees in churches. And employees
at LifeWay.

Including one employee who happens to have the
title of “president and CEO.”